I ukhshed byJosepA M. Wilson. PAiladejjJhla . 
 
r 
 
 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 349 
 
 cessful than in his first charge. This was during the period of the late civil 
 war. Moved by the spiritual wants of the soldiers in the army of the 
 South, engaged as they believed in defending their national liberties, he left 
 his church and home and friends for a time to labor as a missionary in the 
 field. He was appointed by the Executive Committee of Domestic Missions 
 of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the South, or of 
 the then called C. S. A., to labor in the army of Tennessee under the com- 
 mand of General Joseph E. Johnston. He left home on Jan. 27, 1864. 
 
 He gave himself to the work with, if possible, more than his usual zeal. 
 He labored night and day for three months to comfort the afflicted and to 
 save souls. In the army, God gave him many souls for his hire. He said 
 they were the happiest days of his whole life. On Sabbath, the 15th day of 
 May, 1864, he preached to Baker's Brigade in the Army of Tennessee while 
 inline of battle, just on the eve of the most fearful battle of Besaca, in 
 Georgia, and preached most impressively and solemnly. Very soon after, 
 the battle began, and raged with great fury. Urged by a patriotism long 
 cherished in his quiet home, but now rendered intense by the magnitude of 
 the pending crisis and sublime in the forgetfulness of self, and sustained^ 
 a courage that thought not of danger, he rushed into the battle, cheering 
 on the men in a most perilous and even desperate charge upon a strong 
 battery of the enemy ; and after seeing his eldest son slain before his face, he 
 fell, himself pierced by a fatal bullet. Thus ended his earthly career. The 
 estimate of his character given by those who were his co-presbyters and 
 knew him best is as follows. (Extract from the minutes of the Presbytery of 
 Tuscaloosa : ) 
 
 "He was a man of excellent mind and great force of character. Warmth, 
 energy and generosity were his leading traits. He had a most ardent temp- 
 erament. His heart was ever aglow with emotion. He was emphatically 
 a man of intense earnestness. He was enthusiastic, but his enthusiasm was 
 not mere passion — it was sanctified fervor, a zeal of God according to true 
 Christian knowledge, and hence was the powerful spring to a holy and useful 
 life — a life full of activity, of self-denial and benevolence. His ardent soul 
 glowed with the love of Christ and the love of souls. He was a most devoted 
 minister of the blessed gospel. He loved to preach it. He loved to win 
 souls. He threw all his power into the noble work. All who heard him 
 were impressed with the feeling that he was one who yearned for their sal- 
 vation, and most abundantly did God bless his labors. 
 
 He built up the Church, not only in his own pastoral charge., but in all 
 parts of this Presbytery, having labored more or less in almost every one of 
 our churches, and in very many instances with signal tokens of God upon 
 his efforts. His ministrations were prized by all our people, and their loss 
 is as extensively lamented. Our whole Presbytery, both ministers and 
 churches feel that they have experienced a sad calamity. His loss to us as a 
 judicatory is certainly very great. He never failed to attend our meetings; 
 he was intimately acquainted with all our affairs. He was an intelligent, con- 
 scientious, judicious and in every way most useful presbyter." 
 
 His widow and four children survive — six having preceded him to the 
 spirit-world. 
 
 PHILLIPS, d.d., JAMES— Joseph M. Wilson: Dear Sir— In com- 
 plying with your request that I should furnish the Presbyterian Historical 
 Almajiac with a biographical sketch of my father, I feel assured that I can- 
 not further your object better than by sending you extracts from the dis- 
 course delivered at his funeral by the Bev. A. D. Hepburn, then Professor 
 
350 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of Metaphysics, Logic and Rhetoric in the University of North Carolina, from 
 the memorial address delivered by the same gentleman, by request of the 
 trustees of the university, at the annual Commencement in 1867, and from 
 various obituary notices and estimates of him which appeared in the news- 
 papers of the day — all of them from the hands of men well qualified, by long 
 and intimate association, to be impartial judges of his character and his work. 
 
 I am particularly pleased that my father's memory should be thus asso- 
 ciated with the Historical Almanac — a work in which he took a great interest 
 from its beginning, and of which he frequently expressed the opinion that 
 it was one of growing interest and of inestimable value to our Church. 
 I am, sir, with great respect, Cornelia Phillips Spencer. 
 
 Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 
 
 Letter from Hon. D. L. Swain, ll.d., President of the University of 
 North Carolina, to the North Carolina Presbyterian (Fayette ville, N. C), 
 March 27, 1867 : My Dear Sir. — There are many among the pupils of the 
 late Dr. Phillips to be found in every Southern and Western State, who, 
 like yourself, will feel a deep interest in his personal history. I know, 
 therefore, that I will render an acceptable service to a considerable propor- 
 tion of your readers by sketching, while they are fresh in my memory, some 
 of the leading incidents of his life. 
 
 Dr. Phillips rarely referred, in conversation, to himself, and few beyond 
 his own family are familiar with the events of his early history. He was 
 born at Nevendon, Essex county, England, on the 22d of April, 1792, and 
 at the time of his death, March 14, 1867, wanted little more than a month 
 of completing the seventy-fifth year of his age. He was the third son of 
 the Rev. Richard and Susan Meade Phillips. His father was a minister of 
 the Established Church of England, and attached to the Evangelical party 
 in that Church, numbering among his friends such men as Henry Veuve and 
 John Berridge. He removed, when James was seven years old, to Stafford- 
 shire, and from thence, about the beginning of the present century, to 
 Roche, Cornwall, where he continued rector of that parish until his death, 
 about 1837. 
 
 James Phillips, in company with an older brother, Samuel A. Phillips, 
 Esq., now a resident of New York city, came to America in the year 1818, 
 and engaged in the business of teaching, at Harlaem, N. Y. , where he soon 
 had a flourishing school. In 1821 he married Julia Vermeule, daughter 
 of a New Jersey farmer of good family. Her brother, Rev. Cornelius C. Ver- 
 meule, D.D., was for many years pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church in 
 Harlaem. In 1826 Dr. Phillips competed successfully for the chair of 
 Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the University of North Carolina, 
 and arrived in Chapel Hill, the seat of the university, in May, 1826. Presi- 
 dent Caldwell was then in the fifty-fourth year of his age, in the full pos- 
 session of remarkable physical and mental energy. Prof. Phillips was in 
 his thirty-fourth year. Dr. Mitchell, the Senior Prof, of Chemistry, and 
 Dr. Hooper, Prof, of Rhetoric and Logic, were born in the same year with 
 Dr. Phillips. Prof. Andrews, subsequently the eminent lexicographer, was 
 then Prof, of Ancient, and Prof. Hentz (husband of the celebrated authoress, 
 Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz) was Prof, of Modern Languages. The Rev. Dr. 
 Hooper is now the only survivor of that band of eminent men who, forty 
 years ago, constituted the faculty of our university. 
 
 The history of Dr. Phillips' forty years' work will best be given in con- 
 nection with a general history of our university and State, which will, wo 
 hope, ere long be prepared by competent hands. Those years of his life 
 
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 351 
 
 were years of close study, of hard work and of singular devotion to the 
 duties that lay before him. It is no disparagement to any of his colleagues 
 in the Faculty to say that, in unvarying punctuality and fidelity -in every re- 
 lation, and in the discharge of every duty, great er small, none could com- 
 pare with him. The lives of few teachers in this or any other country can 
 present such a record. _ 
 
 Dr. Phillips was an inexorable mathematician. _ Had he ever a pupil who 
 will not bear the same testimony, with the addition that he never knew a . 
 man of sterner integrity or more unflinching courage? not merely physical — 
 for this is no uncommon trait — but moral courage ? He shrank from no duty 
 imposed on him by his office, either as professor or as minister in the Church 
 of God. And, while he never swerved a hair's breadth from the undevi- 
 ating line of rectitude which he marked out for himself, either to conciliate 
 favor or to deprecate censure, no man has ever secured a larger share of 
 affectionate veneration in the hearts of all who knew him. He was em- 
 phatically a gentleman of the old school in manners, in religious belief, and 
 in most of his forms of thought. While he rejected no new theories simply 
 because they were new, he embraced none without careful examination and 
 thorough conviction of their worth. His favorite religious reading lay 
 among the old non-conformist divines ; his favorite authors were the old 
 English classics ; the book that was oftenest in his hand was the oldest of 
 all— the Bible. Without entering further into the delineation of his cha- 
 racter, which will receive a more elaborate survey than I have at present 
 time or disposition to make, I may mention that, among numerous testimo- 
 nials to the value and efficiency of his method of instruction in his own de- 
 partment of science, was a letter from Lieutenant Maury, while at the head 
 of the national observatory. He had had successively two of Dr. Phillips' 
 pupils* as assistants, and he applied to secure a third as instructor for his 
 own children, stating that he desired them to have the benefit of the same 
 training which had rendered his assistants such ready and accurate mathe- 
 maticians. 
 
 How often has Dr. Phillips in early life responded to his own father in his 
 church, in the beautiful and expressive language of the English Litany, 
 "From battle and murder, and from sudden death, good Lord deliver us!" 
 I have sometimes thought that the last of these events was, under some 
 circumstances, rather to be coveted than dreaded. "The chamber where 
 the good man meets his fate is privileged beyond the common walks of vir- 
 tuous life — just on the verge of heaven." This was Dr. Caldwell's case. 
 He died the victim of excruciating and lingering disease, with his wife and 
 friends to witness the calmness and composure, the faith and triumph of his 
 closing hour. His senior professor, Dr. Mitchell, perished instantaneously in 
 one of the wildest and most inaccessible gorges of the Alleghanies, and re- 
 poses on the loftiest summit of the continent, east of the Rocky Mountains. 
 Who that knew him personally would have desired a different termination 
 of his active existence? Not less startling and remarkable was the departure 
 of his venerated friend and colleague, Dr. Phillips. On the tempestuous 
 morning of the 14th, a little before nine o'clock, with his accustomed, al- 
 most constitutional punctuality, in despite of the entreaties of his youngest 
 child, he set out in the rain to officiate at morning prayers. He arrived at 
 the chapel as usual, in advance of the ringing of the bell, and took his ac- 
 customed seat immediately behind the reading-desk. What were his thoughts 
 or feelings during that walk, and as he sat there a few moments alone, can 
 
 * General Pettigrew and Captain A. W. Lawrence. 
 
352 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 be known only to his God. The first student who entered the chapel after 
 the bell commenced ringing bowed to him and spoke. The salutation not 
 being returned, he advanced toward him, and perceived him in the act of 
 falling from his seat. He dropped to the floor in the precise spot where v 
 for so many years, he had so often and so fervently prayed for the rising 
 generation that surrounded him. Dr. Mallet was almost immediately there, 
 but in ten minutes he had ceased to breathe. Surrounded by the whole 
 body of students, in the arms of one of them, he went to his eternal rest 
 without a pang or a struggle, and in sad and solemn procession was born by 
 them and his coliegues in the Faculty to his residence and laid down in his 
 library among his books; his manuscript sermon in preparation for next 
 Sabbath lying open on his table, just as he had left it. There the veteran 
 who had dropped at his post lay with the peace of God upon his noble brow, 
 having heard the summons, "Come up higher," and received the word, 
 "Well done." He walked with God and was not, for God took him. 
 
 Had Dr. Phillips been permitted to choose the time, place and manner of 
 his departure, I do not doubt he would have chosen thus. His most frequent 
 petition in family prayer of late had been, "Let me be useful as long as I live, 
 and let me die in thy service." He had a dread of an old age lengthened 
 out in weakness and infirmity. And his Master gave his old servant what 
 he desired. At his post, with his harness on, with his recitation-room key 
 and "Pierce's Plane and Solid Geometry" in his hand, prepared to begin 
 his day's work with prayer, the last sound in his ears the familiar tones of 
 the college bell, the last sight the students assembling for worship, he passed 
 away. A better, braver, nobler man I have never known. 
 
 He preached his last sermon in the Presbyterian Church on Sunday, the 
 10th, from the text Amos v. 6, and heard the recitations of the Junior, 
 Sophomore and Freshman classes on the two succeeding days. The evening 
 before his death I walked home with him from the chapel after prayers, and 
 saw him stop to pluck a flower from the campus shrubbery to carry his little 
 granddaughter. 
 
 On Saturday morning, March 16, his remains were carried to the college 
 chapel, which was draped in black, and after a short and singularly appro- 
 priate address, by Professor Hepburn, he was laid in the graveyard near his 
 grandchildren who had preceded him to heaven. A suitable memoir will 
 be prepared and published by the students, whose affectionate veneration for 
 his memory resembles that of sons for a father, and who desire to see that 
 nothing shall be omitted which can do honor to his memory. 
 
 Dr. Phillips leaves a widow, at present in precarious health and on a visit 
 to relatives in New York, and three children. The eldest is the Rev. 
 Charles Phillips, Professor of Pure Mathematics in the university ; the second 
 Honorable Samuel F. Phillips, late speaker of the House of Commons, and 
 
 S resent reporter of the Supreme Court of North Carolina; and the youngest, 
 [rs. Cornelia Spencer, well known as the author of " The Last Ninety Days 
 of the War in N. C." He was eminently happy in his children, and his old 
 age was made sunny by their tender love and devotion to him. A long and 
 honored and useful life, a serene evening and an enviable close. The right- 
 eous shall bring forth fruit in old age, and the seed of thy servants shall be 
 established for ever. D. L. S. 
 
 Chapel Hill, March 18, 1867. 
 
 Letter from the Rev. Drury Lucy, d.d., of Raleigh, N. C, in the " Cen- 
 tral Presbyterian' ' (Richmond, Va. ). Dear Sir: It is not to create a character, 
 but to portray one, that I enter upon the melancholy, yet pleasing duty of 
 
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 353 
 
 paying a just tribute to to the memory of a great and good man — my dear 
 friend, Rev. James Phillips, D.D. 
 
 Some men are great by the position in which Providence hasplaced them ; 
 some again are distinguished by the gifts of fortune, and acquired fame and 
 distinction bAie noble use of the means which God has committed to their 
 stewardship. Others, like my departed friend, are endowed with those re- 
 markable intellectual and moral qualities which, in their combination, al- 
 ways compel the attention of men ; exerting an influence, and commanding 
 a respect which is not limited by position and is not dependent upon the 
 gifts of fortune. This kind of greatness belongs to the man and not to his 
 place ; it is individual and not official ; it is inherent and not reflected from 
 place or circumstance. It is a greatness which is not exaggerated by dis- 
 tance, but is felt the more as we approach the nearer — which marks the pos- 
 sessor as belonging to the true aristocracy of great men— as one of those in- 
 tellectual princes whose letters patent of nobility are from God himself. It 
 is of such a man I wish to speak in a few words of tender remembrance. 
 
 Dr. Phillips was a man of unusual robustness of health, and rarely suf- 
 fered from attacks of disease. His vigorous constitution, however, sustained 
 a shock from a severe attack of pneumonia several years ago, from which 
 he never entirely recovered; and he himself realized that he never fully 
 regained his strength and elasticity, and lived daily as one waiting for the 
 coming of the Lord. In the discharge of his regular duties, he had gone 
 to the chapel — though the morning was inclement — to lead the devotions of 
 the Sabbath. Just before he arose to pray, his spirit was summoned to the 
 presence of his Judge. While sitting on the rostrum he suddenly fell dead 
 from an attack of apoplexy, and was tenderly and reverently born by the 
 hands of his sorrowing pupils to his own dwelling. Thus fell at his post of 
 duty this great man ; thus suddenly was he summoned from earth to heaven 
 to mingle his grand soul with its kindred elements in eternity. 
 
 Let us now look at some of those characteristics by which he was marked. 
 
 In the first place, he had a wonderful facility in acquiring knowledge. 
 Considering the amount and variety of his professional labors, we must ad- 
 mit that his literary, theological and professional attainments were very re- 
 markable. Indeed, there was scarcely any object of human research with 
 whose history and progress he was not acquainted. 
 
 He was equally distinguished for his resolution and self-reliance. His 
 strong will gained additional force from other traits of character by which 
 he was marked. Whatever had to be done, with him could be done and 
 was done. The resources of his mind suggested the means, and his resolu- 
 tion impelled to the result. Hence it was that from his very boyhood, 
 through the whole course of his life, he was so eminently a self-made man. 
 
 No man ever carried out more fully and practically the old saying about 
 "diligence, industry and the proper improvement of time." The amount 
 of his reading — apart from his professional studies — was astonishing. One 
 had to be with him a long time, and to know him well, to find out much he 
 did read. In the last volume of Henry's Commentary this entry occurs : 
 "I finished reading this entire commentary December 25, 1852, at three- 
 quarters past eight o'clock, A. M." And so in JNeander's Church History, 
 Augustine de Civ., Ambrose, Tholuck, Haldane, Alexander and numberless 
 others one will find: "Hoc volumen perlegi," with the date, or simply 
 u perlegiy and date. All who have heard him preach, and all who have en- 
 joyed his conversation, know how he profited by his abundant readings. 
 
 The only fault I ever heard any one — even the most fastidious — make of 
 his preaching was, that his sermon was too full of matter. It was a fault. 
 
 45 
 
354 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 A great thinker himself, he took it for granted that his hearers could think 
 too, and did not make allowance for the fact that not one in a thousand 
 could follow his train of thought, compactly logical all through, as easily as 
 he could originate it. ' 'He appeared to the greatest advantage upon sub- 
 jects where the faculties of most men fail them ; for the nat^l element of 
 his mind was greatness." As he excelled at the same time in taking a pro- 
 found and comprehensive view of a subject, so the understanding and affec- 
 tions of his hearers were equally interested in his sermons, which usually 
 flowed on in a mighty torrent of argument and pathos. There was a certain 
 massiveness in the matter of his discourses, which, like that of his bodily 
 frame, could not but be felt by those who came in contact with him. Of all 
 things he did love to preach the gospel of the free^ and glorious grace of 
 God. No one who has had the good fortune to hear him in his prime can ever 
 forget the grand exhibitions of truth he held up from such texts as Rom. v. 
 1; Rom. viii. 32; Grab ii. 20; Gal. iv. 4, 5; Gal. vi. 14; Titus iii. 4, 7; 
 etc., etc. He used to say he loved fat texts. 
 
 While we are on the subject of his ministry it would be great injustice to 
 the memory of my friend not to mention his striking superiority in the dis- 
 charge of the devotional part of his pulpit exercises, his almost unrivalled 
 eminence in prayer. I never heard a man pray so in my life. His prayers 
 united every excellence of which they are susceptible : they were copious, 
 fervent, elevated and unutterably solemn. He poured out his whole soul 
 in an easy, unaffected flow of devotional sentiment. Adoration seemed to 
 be his natural element ; and as he appeared to lose consciousness of any other 
 presence but that of the deity, he seldom failed to raise the worshipers to 
 the same elevation, and to make them realize the feelings of Jacob, when he 
 exclaimed : " How dreadful is this place !" 
 
 But it was not in the pulpit only that Dr. Phillips shone ; in his private 
 sphere of action as a Christian his virtues were not less distinguished than 
 his duties as a minister. He was a man of ardent piety, though he was not 
 forward to speak of his religious exercises. Deep devotion and unaffected 
 humility entered far into this part of his character. If he was admirable in 
 public prayer, he was not less so in family devotion. Many a time, in former 
 years, when on a visit to my house — and elsewhere also — have I been sur- 
 prised at the promptitude, ease and grace with which he would bring in the 
 peculiar circumstances of the family, with an allusion sometimes to minute 
 incidents, without once impairing the solemnity or detracting from the dig- 
 nity which ought ever to accompany a religious exercise. His petitions in 
 behalf of any individual were stamped with something exclusively proper to 
 his situation or character, so that while he was joining in an act of social 
 worship he felt, before he was aware, as if he were left alone with God. 
 
 Dr. Phillips was a decided Calvinist in sentiment, and a thorough Pres- 
 byterian in his views of doctrine and order. If this was not so manifest in 
 his ecclesiastical connections, it was because he was deprived of the opportu- 
 nity of frequent attendance on the meetings of Presbytery by the position he 
 occupied as a professor in the university. While living in New York he 
 left the Episcopal Church, although he had been born and educated within 
 its bosom in Old England, because he could not endure the High-Churchism 
 which he witnessed there, presenting as it did so strong a contrast to the 
 simplicity and spirituality of worship exhibited in his father's congregation. 
 
 He was a genial companion (no one could be more so), and in his hours 
 of relaxation, mingled with his chosen friends in conversation with a hearti- 
 ness that was delightful. He was a firm and fast friend, as well in evil as in 
 good report, in adversity as well as in prosperity. He loved to play with 
 
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 855 
 
 children, and they loved him dearly in turn. Many a pleasant frolic and 
 noisy romp with him will be remembered by them with tearful eyes and 
 swelling hearts as long as they live. 
 
 He was a remarkably modest man, as free^ from arrogance and presump- 
 tion, as humble in the estimate of his own importance, as one can be well 
 conceived to be in this world of sin. And yet he was as brave a man as 
 ever lived, abounding in courage both of body and soul. The only being in 
 all the universe he feared was God, and him he feared all the day long. 
 
 I feel incompetent to speak of him as a professor in the university. But- 
 from the little I know myself, and from all I have ever learned through 
 others, he was a very accomplished professor. And from information gath- 
 ered from those who ought to know, I doubt, whether among the records 
 of the many great and good men who have been engaged in the same hon- 
 orable employment another can be found who united in his own person a 
 more remarkable assemblage of those qualities which fit a man for discharg- 
 ing his high trust as a professor — whether another can be found who has 
 united in a higher degree, the dignity that commands jrespect, the accuracy 
 that inspires confidence, the ardor that kindles animation, the kindness that 
 wins affection — and has been able, at the same time, to exhibit before his 
 classes the fruits of long and profound research, and of great experience in 
 the business of instruction. 
 
 He had his failings no doubt — for who is free? — but they were scarcely 
 ever suffered to influence his conduct, or to throw even a transient shade 
 over the splendor of his character. On the whole, if a massive intellect, 
 unaffected simplicity of manners, staunch integrity of heart, unswerving 
 fidelity in friendship, the gentleness of the lamb, and the boldness of the 
 lion — and all these qualities consecrated by a piety the most ardent and 
 sincere on the high altar of devotion — have any claim to respect, the memory 
 of Dr. Phillips will long be cherished with tears of admiration and sorrow by 
 those who knew him. D. L. 
 
 Letter from the Rev. W. Hooper, d.d., of Wilson, N. C, to the North 
 Carolinian (Wilson, N. C), March 23, 1867: 
 
 The departure of such a man from amongst us deserves more than a 
 common obituary notice. He had lived nearly seventy-five years, forty of 
 which he had spent at our university, as professor of mathematics ; and 
 thus has he had a share in the education of a large part of the present 
 generation in our own and the adjoining States. To the ability and strict 
 and conscientious fidelity with which he discharged his professional duties 
 during that long official term his numerous pupils will universally testify. 
 Dr. Phillips was also a learned divine, and a preacher, zealous, ardent and 
 unusually affectionate and melting ; 
 
 — " the tear 
 That fell upon his Bible was sincere." 
 
 Often has the writer seen him in his pulpit ministration mingling his tears 
 with his impassioned exhortations, as then he would pour out his soul in his 
 earnest desires for the conversion of his hearers. Great is the responsibility 
 under which those lie who had the privilege of hearing his sermons and his 
 prayers, for these last,^ too, were in an uncommon degree fervent, rich and 
 scriptural. His peculiar gift in prayer was acknowledged and enjoyed by all 
 congenial souls. But the good man, after having served God and his gen- 
 eration — having fought the good fight — has finished his course on earth and 
 gone to receive the crown of righteousness. His summons was sudden, but 
 
856 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 he lived in habitual preparation, and it was remarked that his prayers of 
 late had generally contained petitions for a readiness to meet sudden death. 
 His family also remarked an increased tenderness and affection in his man- 
 ner, as presaging a short stay with them. 
 
 In taking a survey of a long life thus spent in honorable toil for God and 
 man, favored with ability to be useful to the last moment, such a man we 
 may with justice pronounce, " blessed in life and in death." _ In the case 
 before us, besides his contribution to the general stock of enlightened men 
 throughout the State, few men have had more reason to felicitate themselves 
 on the successful results of education in their own families. He has lived 
 to see one of his sons attain to high character as a professor and theologian, 
 another to take a leading rank among the legislators of the State, and a 
 daughter to earn a distinguished reputation as a writer, by a historical sketch 
 of the concluding scenes of our late unfortunate struggle, characterized by 
 a richness of material, a clearness of detail and an elegance and vigor of 
 style which promise to make it a part of the permanent literature of the 
 State. And these are all. No Ishmael to mar the pleasure derived from 
 Isaac! No Absalom to wring the heart that was comforted in Solomon! 
 To none could with more propriety be applied the words of the Mantuan bard : 
 Fortunate senex! terque quaterque beate. The writer of these lines finds a 
 melancholy satisfaction in paying this last tribute to the memory of one of 
 his oldest and most valued friends and fellow-laborers in the cathedra of the 
 professor and in the sacred desk. W. H. 
 
 Wilson, N. C, March 22, 1867. 
 
 Extract of a letter from the Rev. Ephraim Harding, of Concord, N. C, 
 to The Christian Observer, Richmond, Va., March 28, 1867: 
 
 While I write these words, I think of one dear old man, my friend and 
 my father's friend, who has just gone to the "land that is very far off" and 
 is now seeing " the King in his beauty." 
 
 He had just this power I have been speaking of. His sermons were mines 
 of the purest gold — the most precious truth. I cannot tell you how blessed 
 I would feel if I could heap up the rich ore of the gospel. 
 
 I allude to the late Professor James Phillips, D.D., of the University of 
 North Carolina. 
 
 He was the son of the Rev. Richard Phillips of the Church of England, 
 and was born in the parish of Neweudon, twenty miles from London, April 
 22, 1792. He saw Napoleon the First, on board the Bellerophon, at Ply- 
 mouth, just before he sailed to St. Helena. Pie came to America in 1818, 
 to Chapel Hill in 1826, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Orange, at 
 New Hope, in September, 1833. 
 
 For forty years he devoted himself with unremitting care and attention to 
 his duties as professor of mathematics, never having failed during all that 
 time, perhaps, more than half a dozen times, to be at prayers and recita- 
 tion at the appointed time. 
 
 He was a regular and beloved visitor at my father's house, and I have 
 kept up an unbroken friendship for him from childhood. Sterling good 
 sense, a strong intellect was the basis of his character, but it was colored 
 with a humor, a quaintness, a pathos, a tenderness, and at the same time a 
 kindly good-natured curtness, that altogether gave a peculiar, charming 
 piquancy to his character. 
 
 He was, I think, a great preacher ; his sermons were complete structures. 
 There was nothing oratorical about him; it was the pure "weight of metal." 
 It was, as regards the thoughts, iron logic, " Totus, teres, atque rotundus," 
 
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 357 
 
 not a nail wanting, not a bolt loose, not a tap off. But yet there played 
 all over it in beautiful hues the softest, richest, most tremulous pathos. 
 Years ago I heard him preach on "Though he was rich, yet for our sakes 
 he became poor. " After he got fully into the subject the pathos became 
 richer and richer, deeper and deeper, until it reached its climax in, " Then 
 the broken-hearted Jesus bowed his head and died." I just leaned my 
 head over on the pew and gave loose to my emotions. Pascal's broken 
 phrases — joy, joy — tears, tears — alone describe such moments. As I left the 
 church, a lawyer of high culture and great reading remarked to me, 
 " Pure gold! pure gold!" 
 
 He was peculiarly gifted in prayer ; he was often very long, but then he 
 took you to the throne. A pious man remarked that one of his prayers 
 was worth a ride of thirty miles. I remember the depth of emotion he 
 used to crowd into, " In whom, though, we see him not, yet now believing, we 
 rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." It was said of him that the 
 simple utterance, " Our Father in Heaven," was worth the* whole prayer of 
 other men. 
 
 He was a thorough mathematician, but well and thoroughly read in all 
 departments. Many books in his library have this simple comment, " JPer- 
 legi." "I could not get him," says one of his sons in a letter to me, "to 
 read 'Ecce Homo,' or to become interested in the modern Christological con- 
 troversy, but in Ambrose's ' Looking to Jesus,' I find ' hoc volmnen prelegV 
 As to Young and Bushnell he used to say, ' At my time of life, I can't be 
 taking up my foundation just to relay it again, for none other can be laid 
 than is already laid.' " 
 
 The same letter says, "Since I have been sick, my father had been at- 
 tending to my work in college, thereby nearly quadrupling his labors; this 
 he would do, notwithstanding my remonstrances and those of his colleagues. 
 There is something almost sublime in the manner of my father's death — in 
 this old man of threescore and fifteen going on like one of Gideon's men 
 'faint, yet pursuing;' in his falling dead on the rostrum where he had led 
 the devotions of his students for forty years ; with those pupils gathering to 
 prayer as the last sight of his eyes ; and the bell calling them to prayer as the 
 last sound in his ears ; and a preparation for prayer as the last act of his 
 heart." 
 
 He was a self-made man, although reading Latin, Greek, French, Italian ; 
 and even when he came to Chapel Hill, the associate of the first men in his 
 profession at the North, it was all acquired by himself. I love to contem- 
 plate the memory of such men. Oh what a precious harvest is gathering 
 in heaven ! E. 
 
 On the announcement of Dr. Phillips' death the usual resolutions of re- 
 spect and condolence were passed by Orange Presbytery and the Synod of 
 North Carolina^ by the town commissioners of Chapel Hill, by the Session 
 of the Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, by the students of the university, 
 by the Dialectic Society of the university — of which he was a member — and 
 by the Executive Committee of the Trustees of the university. The latter 
 body, in consideration of the long and eminent services of the deceased pro- 
 fessor, and as evidence of their appreciation of his worth, 
 
 Resolved, "That the Rev. Professor Hepburn be requested to deliver a 
 funeral oration before the trustees, Faculty and students of the university in 
 Girard Hall at the next annual commencement, and that the public be re- 
 spectfully requested to unite with them in the bestowment of appropriate 
 funeral honors." 
 
358 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 On the 5th of June, 1867, in the presence of a large and unusually bril- 
 liant assemblage, the President of the United States, with Mr. Seward and 
 other members of his cabinet and staff being present, Mr. Hepburn delivered 
 an elaborate and elegant discourse, from which our space compels us to 
 omit such passages as would be repetitions of the preceding notices, and to 
 condense much of the whole. We have endeavored not to mar its beauty 
 and symmetry. 
 
 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 The Faculty of the University of North Carolina, conformably to a reso- 
 lution of the executive committee, has set apart this evening to commem- 
 orate the life and character of James Phillips, D.D., for more than forty 
 years Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the institution, 
 who died suddenly in the course of the present session while in the dis- 
 charge of one of his college duties. In compliance with the request of the 
 same committee, I appear to pay a tribute of friendship to his memory. 
 In discharging this duty I shall indulge in no eulogy. # Dr. Phillips was a 
 true man, and the highest honor that we can pay him is to portray him as 
 he was. He himself on one occasion declared that a man's life should be 
 his only eulogy, and in accordance with his own feelings on such subjects I 
 shall aim to give you a simple narrative of his uneventful life and an im- 
 partial estimate of his merits as a scholar, professor, theologian, and of his 
 character as a man. 
 
 The few years immediately preceding Dr. Phillips' emigration to this country 
 were spent by him at Plymouth, where his older brother Samuel, returning 
 home after a ten-years' absence on duty in the English navy, found him en- 
 gaged in private study and in teaching. It was that period of his life which 
 is most important in the formation of character. His tastes and habits seem 
 to have been fixed early, and to the impressions which he here received and 
 the scenes he witnessed a.t this great military and naval station we can trace 
 many of his later habits and interests. That he saw Napoleon when a 
 prisoner on board the Bellerophon as she lay in Plymouth harbor is one of 
 the few incidents of his early life that he ever referred to ; but it appeared 
 incidentally from his conversation that from his intimacy with some of the 
 officers with whom the port of Plymouth was at that time crowded, he made 
 considerable proficiency in military science and acquired a fondness for it 
 which he retained through life : only a few years ago he procured and read 
 with great care and zest Hardee's Tactics. Doubtless his taste for the exact 
 sciences was developed and fixed at this period. I remember to have heard 
 him tell of the wonder and delight which he felt when the significance of 
 the diagrams in a work on geometry was first explained to him. On his 
 first introduction to Euclid he read it with the eagerness and rapidity with 
 which most young people peruse a romance. 
 
 In 1818 the brothers, Samuel and James, after making a tour in France, 
 sailed for the United States. James at once commenced his career as a 
 teacher at Harlaem. His brother entered successfully into business. 
 
 There were at that time in New York and the neighborhood a number of 
 American and British mathematicians who had organized a mathematical 
 club; of this club Mr. James Phillips became a member. Among his as- 
 sociates were such men as Strong, Ryan and McNulty, all eminent in their 
 day. In the mathematical journals published at that time problems were 
 regularly proposed for solution, and the attempt to solve them was a favorite 
 mode with the aspirants for reputation in these studies of exhibiting their 
 ingenuity and power. Such attempts form the beginning of the career of 
 
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 359 
 
 some of our most distinguished scientific men. It was a kind of exercise 
 of which Mr. Phillips was always fond, and for several years he was a 
 regular contributor to at least two of these journals— the Mathematical 
 Repository edited by Adrian and afterward by Ryan, and Nash's Diary, 
 
 Having married in 1821, he seemed happily settled for life. His school 
 was flourishing, he had numerous warm and influential friends and enjoyed 
 all the advantages derived from scientific and literary associations. That he 
 suddenly abandoned this so desirable position and removed from New York 
 to the wilds of North Carolina was owing in a great measure to the influence 
 of Dr. Robert Adrain, at that time a professor in the college of New Bruns- 
 wick, New Jersey. It was he who first directed Mr. Phillips' attention to 
 the vacant chair in the University of North Carolina and urged him to 
 apply for it, and it was his emphatic testimonial in Mr. Phillips' behalf 
 that decided the choice of the trustees. The strongest argument pressed on 
 Mr. Phillips was that whose force every scholar would feel — the advantage 
 afforded by such a position for concentrating his powers upon a single study, 
 instead of being compelled, as in a school, to dissipate them among a variety. 
 On receiving the appointment to Chapel Hill, he sold his property at once 
 and removed to North Carolina, in May, 1826, entering upon the duties of 
 his professorship in the following July. 
 
 The condition of the university was then far from prosperous. In re- 
 ferring to those early days, Dr. Phillips frequently spoke of the discourage- 
 ments and embarrassments he met with. He found in the then president, 
 Dr. Joseph Caldwell, a sympathizing and judicious friend. He was a more 
 inexorable mathematician if possible than himself; one in whom the sciem 
 tine and practical were happily blended, and of liberal, far-seeing views ; and 
 to these qualities were joined great dignity of character, rigor as a disci- 
 plinarian and inflexible integrity. Professor Phillips won the confidence 
 and friendship of this great and good man and repaid it by a life-long affec- 
 tion and veneration. In the members of the Faculty which then adorned 
 the university, Professors Hooper, Andrews, Mitchell and Hentz, he had 
 colleagues whose superiors in their respective departments could be found in 
 few colleges in our country. 
 
 It is to be deplored that we can learn so little of the early portion of Dr. 
 " Phillips' life at Chapel Hill. To make an impartial estimate of his character 
 and influence as an instructor we should see him, not merely as he was at 
 the close of his life, but also as he was when, in the vigor of his days and full 
 of enthusiasm, he entered upon the duties of his department. A more con- 
 genial one could not have been assigned him, and he devoted himself to it with 
 all his energies. The amount of work he went through with is amazing. 
 He projected a complete course of mathematical works, and published in 
 1828 a work on Conic Sections, which was intended to be an introduction to 
 natural philosophy. It was adopted as a text book in Columbia College, 
 N. Y. , but being purely geometrical in its method and appearing just as 
 algebraic geometry was introduced was of course soon superseded. He pre- 
 pared also treatises on Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Differential and In- 
 tegral Calculus and Natural Philosophy, besides making for his own use 
 translations of many of the French mathematicians. These works he never 
 made any attempt to publish. We have also his records of various as- 
 tromical observations and calculations, part of them made at the observa- 
 tory erected here under the direction of Dr. Caldwell — the first observatory, 
 I believe, ever erected in the United States. He also joined the other mem- 
 bers of the faculty in contributing his quota to the Harbinger, a news- 
 paper published at Chapel Hill, in 1832, under the direction of Dr. Cald- 
 
380 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 well. In addition to these absorbing duties he found time to carry on tho 
 education of his three children with great punctuality. In this, however, 
 he was greatly assisted by his wife, for there were in those days no schools 
 in Chapel Hill, and but few in North Carolina. 
 
 Up to the time of his coming to North Carolina, and for some years after, 
 he seems to have devoted himself exclusively to scientific studies. A great 
 and permanent change was now to take place in his life. The reports of 
 the great religious awakening which followed the labors of Dr. Nettleton in 
 Virginia excited the interest of Professor Phillips, and in company with 
 Dr. Hooper, during a summer vacation, he made an excursion into Virginia 
 to visit him. Very unexpectedly to both gentlemen, Dr. Nettleton returned 
 this visit, and this was the commencement of a deep and general religious in- 
 terest in this place and neighborhood. Although Professor Phillips had been 
 for some years a consistent member of the Church, yet now he began to distrust 
 his previous religious experience, and regarded the great change which now 
 took place in his views and feelings as the true beginning of his Christian 
 life. It was the great epoch of his life. He felt and obeyed the summons 
 to other and higher duties, and henceforth he ceased to be the mere teacher 
 of science. He added to his other duties the diligent study of theology 
 and unwearied activity in all Christian duties. His zeal in establishing and 
 maintaining prayer-meetings and religious conferences soon became con- 
 spicuous among his colleagues, and among the students he had zealous co- 
 laborers, but he surpassed all. Dr. Caldwell declared at Presbytery that in 
 the revival at Chapel Hill. "Professor Phillips had eclipsed all the preach- 
 ers," and his old friend, Dr. Hooper, states that his uncommon fervor and 
 zeal so far distanced all others as to impair the effects of their ministry ; his 
 animation and warmth made others ashamed of their coldness. His public 
 exhortations and services naturally attracted the notice of Presbytery, as 
 being not in strict conformity to "law and order," and at a meeting of 
 Presbytery at New Hope, seven miles from Chapel Hill, in September, 1833, 
 at which Professor Phillips happened to be present with no view of seeking 
 admission to the ministerial office, he was urged by the leading members to 
 submit at once to an examination for licensure. When he resisted so sum- 
 mary a proceeding, Dr. MePheeters remarked jocularly, "Well, sir, Presby- 
 tery will either have to license you or to discipline you." Professor Phillips ■ 
 yielded, and after some further delay, occasioned by the difficulty of finding 
 a presbyter willing to undertake to examine him, he was duly licensed. In 
 April, 1835, at a meeting of Presbytery in Hillsboro', he was solemnly or- 
 dained to the full work of the ministry. He never was ordained as pastor, 
 but he preached as a supply for some time at Pittsboro', and afterward, for 
 the greater part of his ministerial life, at New Hope church. To this 
 church he was sincerely attached, and for nearly thirty years he preached 
 there with great regularity, holding afternoon services in neighboring school- 
 houses and private dwellings, seeking as his only recompense that he might 
 see some good as the result of his toil. His labors here only ceased when 
 advancing years forbade the exertion and exposure, but not before he. had 
 the gratification of seeing his eldest son in the same place, endeared to him 
 by so many recollections, set apart to the same sacred and important work. 
 For the last few years of his life he acted as supply of the church in 
 Chapel Hill — a church which he was principally instrumental in erecting — 
 and was in full discharge of his duties as such at the time of his death. 
 
 The forty-one years of Dr. Phillips' life at Chapel Hill present but few 
 materials for the biographer, a teacher's life being proverbially barren of 
 incident. They were years of quiet, unremitting study and of single-minded 
 
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 361 
 
 devotion to the duties of his calling. He gradually concentrated his efforts 
 upon his work in the class-room and in the pulpit. ^ His contributions to 
 mathematical journals were at length suspended — his intercourse with scien- 
 tific men abroad ceased. He made but few visits to the North ; the last was in 
 1851, when he was appointed one of the visitors to West Point. His vaca- 
 tions were spent in attending ecclesiastical meetings or in visits to a few old 
 friends. He hardly felt it a vacation when precluded from smoking a pipe 
 with such friends as Dr. Alex. Wilson, or Dr. Harding, or Mr. Grotter. 
 
 In the winter of 1863 and '64 he had a severe attack of pneumonia ; it was 
 the first serious illness of his life, and both he and his friends believed that 
 it would prove fatal. But he recovered, and was able to resume his college 
 duties. There was a change in him, however, from that period. He never 
 regained his former elasticity and vivacity. He himself was well aware of 
 it, and frequently intimated to those nearest to him his conviction that his 
 end was near. Owing to the sickness of his son and coadjutor in the 
 mathematical department in the early part of the present session, the 
 onerous burden of that entire department was thrown upon him. But no 
 persuasions could induce him to demit any part of his work. 
 
 Dr. Phillips' most characteristic traits as a student were thoroughness, 
 accuracy and system. With him, what was worth doing at all was worth 
 doing well ; what he began he would finish. This tendency to complete was 
 more marked in him than in any scholar I have ever known. In his library 
 will be found many volumes, some of them of a size to appal even those 
 who cannot justly be designated as " languid readers," in which he has written, 
 " Hoc volumen perlegV This perlegi is very characteristic. It was very 
 seldom that he had occasion to reperuse a book. In his class-room he was 
 a strict disciplinarian and severe in his requisitions, though always cheerful 
 and pleasant in his address and easy of access to his pupils. But he wanted 
 them to study. He believed in hard work, and that no great results were ever 
 obtained in any department of human labor without it. Distinguished 
 himself for self-reliance and system, he knew the value of such habits, and 
 as he had never spared himself, he would not spare others. He strove to 
 inure his pupils to habits of strenuous thought, independence of aid from 
 others and manly persistence in endeavors to overcome difficulties. As a 
 man of science he belonged to that class of naturalists who are conducted 
 to the study of physical science mainly by a fondness for pure mathematics, 
 and to whom the great charm of the former is that they contain the applica- 
 tion of the principles of the latter. His mind craved certainty and the 
 foundation of settled principles, and his great aim in teaching seemed to be 
 to secure certainty to his pupils. He always required them to give every 
 step of the process ; he allowed no omissions of a premiss, no saltus in the 
 reasoning. The immature minds with whom he had to deal could not un- 
 derstand such rigorous exactness, and were often worried at the minuteness 
 of his requisitions, and perplexed when at stating some plain proposition 
 which, however, their previous statement did not warrant, they were met by 
 the sharp " I don 't see that.'" It may be doubted whether such discipline 
 was fitted for any but superior minds. As able mathematicians as any in 
 the South were trained under his teaching, and numerous testimonials from 
 competent authorities paid high tribute to the efficacy of his method. But 
 it was a severe training, which none but the strong could endure. Few ever 
 reached the standard which could satisfy him, and he often spoke despond- 
 ently of what he deemed the inadequate results of so laborious a life. 
 What faithful teacher ever felt otherwise on a review of his work? They 
 of all men seem called to walk by faith rather than by sight, sowing the seed 
 46 
 
362 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 for others to reap the harvest perchance long after they have rested from 
 their labors. 
 
 Dr. Phillips' theological sympathies are indicated by saying that he read 
 most frequently the works of such men as Owen, Charnock, Gurnall, Per- 
 kins, Ambrose and others of the same school. These he studied with care, 
 and their influence was plainly seen in his modes of thinking and style of 
 sermonizing. He could not be brought to take much interest in the discus- 
 sions and controversies which now agitate the Christian world. They seemed 
 to him too vague, too subtle, too remote from practical life. The great fea- 
 ture of his character was his unaffected piety. He did not belong to that 
 class of naturalists who see in nature only the operations of a blind necessity, 
 and own no God but mathematical laws. He believed with his great mas- 
 ters, Kepler, and Newton, and Barrow, and Boyle, that it is the province of 
 natural philosophy to elevate us to God, and he carried a profoundly rever- 
 ent spirit into his most abstract studies. Had one demanded of him his 
 creed, he would in all probability have answered: "It is a brief one. I 
 know that I am a sinner. I know that Jesus Christ died for sinners, and I 
 believe that he died for me." With this humility and faith was joined a 
 peculiarly tender and ardent personal attachment to the Lord Jesus. The 
 tears would often spring to his eyes at the mere mention of his name and 
 his work. 
 
 As a preacher, he was a zealous, ardent and unusually animated and melt- 
 ing. He often mingled his tears with his impassioned exhortations, and 
 seemed to pour out his soul in his earnest desire to save souls. His sermons 
 at first were mostly fervid exhortations ; later, his mind becoming tinged with 
 the old Nonconformist divinity in which he delighted, they were elaborate 
 theological discussions, rich in matter, clear in statement, symmetrical in 
 form, but excessive in divisions and subdivisions, abounding in quaint ex- 
 pressions and familiar illustrations, and always delivered with unaffected 
 earnestness and simplicity. He probably preached in few portions of our 
 State without making lasting impressions on some minds; there will be 
 found many among his old hearers who preferred him to any they ever heard. 
 Though perhaps no visible impression could be observed at the time, yet it 
 often occurred that individuals who came forward long afterward to make 
 profession of their faith would refer to some discourse of Dr. Phillips as 
 that which first awakened them to though tfulness and the beginning of a 
 new life. The las.t few years of his life his sermons resembled more his 
 earlier ones. They were brief, fervid appeals, and seemed addressed prin- 
 cipally to the young. His last discourse was on the text (Amos v. 6), 
 "Seek the Lord and ye shall live." 
 
 And when carried back a corpse to his study, which he had left but half 
 an hour before, there was lying open on his table the manuscript of a ser- 
 mon evidently intended for the ensuing Sabbath, on the words, "Enter ye 
 in at the strait gate. ' ' 
 
 I have devoted so large a portion of my time to the consideration of Dr. 
 Phillips' merits as a professor and divine that I can attempt but an imper- 
 fect delineation of him as a man. 
 
 The most careless observer could not fail to he struck, upon even a short 
 acquaintance, with his uncompromising conscientiousness. He was in all 
 things a loyal "bondman of duty." Those who knew him will acknow- 
 ledge that it is no exaggeration to say that he was never found to neglect a 
 duty, however trivial or lowly. He was always found at his post, and 
 always ready with his appointed work. Nothing placed such an impassable 
 grief between him and another as the suspicion of a want of integrity. It 
 
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 863 
 
 was perhaps well for some who claimed his friendship that he was of a 
 most unsuspicious turn, and not easily persuaded to think evil of any man. 
 He habitually brought all actions to the broad principles of right, nor would 
 he ever permit the dangerous experiment of refining on questions of 
 morals. His was too healthy and honest a nature to tolerate this species of 
 casuistry. He never suffered himself to be swayed by the opinion of others 
 or by motives of interest. This devotion to straightforward truth and single- 
 mindedness gave his life great unity and simplicity ; it delivered him from 
 all distractions and inconsistencies, and to its influence are we to trace the 
 unvarying cheerfulness and gayety and vigor of mind which so adorned his 
 old age, and which he enjoyed to the hour of his death. Notwithstanding 
 his nearly fifty years' residence in America, he remained to the last in many 
 of his characteristics emphatically an Englishman. He was somewhat blunt 
 in his address — a man of few words, brave and quiet, yet a most hearty and 
 genial companion. He was a warm and steadfast friend, for he had a large 
 heart, generously alive to the joys and sorrows and wants of others, but he 
 shrank from all demonstration of feeling. _ He was pre-eminently no meddler 
 in other men's matters, and so nice was his sense of honor and delicacy that 
 he would not even remove the wrapper from a newspaper belonging to 
 another. He rarely volunteered his advice or opinion, even when he knew 
 it was earnestly desired, nor would he permit the interference of others in 
 his own affairs. In his personal habits he was simple and unassuming to the 
 last degree. I know of no man who deserved so much and who exacted so 
 little. His own wants were the last he thought of or provided for. To 
 others his hand was always open. In his contributions to charitable pur- 
 poses or to the various calls of the Church, as he chose in life never to let 
 his left hand know what his right hand gave, it is fit now to say no more 
 than that his liberality often far exceeded his means. 
 
 In his early years there were some astringencies and asperities of manner 
 and expression, which in old age mellowed, as we often see in ripening fruit 
 after the frost has touched it ; and he was never happier than when sur- 
 rounded by children and sharing their sports. In person he was not above 
 the middle height, but firmly built and active ; and having enjoyed an un- 
 broken constitution and a clear conscience to the last of his life, his elastic 
 step, his clear hazel eye and hearty laugh, his snow-white hair and ruddy 
 cheek formed an attractive and kindly picture of a blessed and green old 
 age. 
 
 The qualities I have described are those which all who came in contact 
 with Dr. Phillips could observe ; but there were many of the finer traits of 
 his character which could be known only to his intimate friends. Those who 
 regard as the truest type of Christian character not a morbid self-scrutiniz- 
 ing mood, not mere sentimental or extravagant enthusiasm, but that cheer- 
 ful, practical, manly piety exhibited in such characters as Chalmers and 
 Arnold, would have recognized in Dr. Phillips a Christian of the highest 
 style. Christian principle pervaded his whole life, and manifested its pres- 
 ence and power in cheerful patience, in unwearied, joyful obedience, in steady 
 progress in knowledge and virtue — 
 
 " From well to better, daily self-surpassed." 
 
 In reference to his Christian character, one of his earliest and most valued 
 friends and colleagues, the Rev. Dr. Hooper, writes : 
 
 "He was a character that under the habitual moulding of Christian prin- 
 ciples and of fervent Christian feelings would continually improve. Nat- 
 urally ardent, bluff, impulsive, I could easily believe that this temper cost 
 
364 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 him continual conflict and humiliation in his private and in his professional 
 life ; but as these very conflicts, defeats and victories lead to deeper know- 
 ledge of internal weakness, and to richer experience of the necessity and of 
 the fullness of divine grace, I doubt not all who had intercourse with him 
 were gainers by his increased self-discipline." 
 
 Of the struggles alluded to in this extract only the inmates of his own 
 family could know, They above all others could notice the continual ripen- 
 ing of his character, and how his path brightened and brightened unto the 
 perfect day. There was toward the last a strange unworldliness about him, 
 as of one who looked away from the seen to the unseen, a freedom from 
 care and anxiety, a tranquil superiority to ordinary annoyances, a patient 
 and touching endurance of wrong, that was very marked. He was in truth 
 dying daily. I, who saw him after an interval of a year's absence, was 
 greatly impressed by the change. He became more and more tender and 
 gentle and childlike. In his reading he less frequently recurred to the mas- 
 sive treaties which had been his delight in former days, and gave himself 
 more to the perusal of devotional works. The Bible became more and more 
 the object of continuous study ; morning, noon and night he would be found 
 with it on his knee. His gift in prayer, both public and private, had always 
 been remarkable. In the numerous notices of him which appeared at the 
 time of his death not one failed to remark on this excellence as unrivaled. 
 Of late they became briefer and more than usually fervid. He dwelt much 
 on the near approach of death, and in private seems to have designated in- 
 dividuals by name, as if feeling that his time for intercession was short. It 
 was in these prayers that a more complete revelation of his mind was given 
 us. Who that ever heard him has not felt their power. They were the 
 breathings of a humble and fervent soul, free from all reliance on himself 
 and full of filial confidence in God — prayers that told of inward struggles 
 and victories, of lofty aspirations, and of a peace that passeth understand- 
 ing. The increasing warmth of his religious feelings stimulated into greater 
 activity his imagination and sensibility. He wrote many little poems which 
 deserve an honorable place in our collection of hymns. One of his latest 
 published poetical pieces was a translation of Xavier's well-known Latin ode, 
 " 0 Deus, ego amo ie." As it is brief I give it, and those familiar with the 
 original will acknowledge the accuracy and felicity of the rendering. I give 
 it, however, only as an expression of his own peculiarly tender affection for 
 the person of his Saviour : 
 
 0 God! my heart is set on thee: 
 Not that thou may'st my Saviour be, 
 Nor yet because thou wilt compel 
 Thy foes in endless fire to dwell. 
 Thou, thou, my Jesus, had'st me in 
 Thine arms when on the cross for sin ; 
 The nails, the lance, the shame, the tear, 
 The sweat, the agony severe, 
 And even death itself, thou, Lord, 
 Did'st bear for me, a wretch abhorred. 
 Why, Jesus, then, may not my heart 
 Be thine, since thou most lovely art? 
 Not that thou may'st me bring to heaven, 
 Or place me 'mongst the unforgiven ; 
 Not that I hope for any fee, 
 But just as thou hast loved me, 
 So do I love, and will love thee : 
 Because thou art my King alone, 
 And I no other God will own. 
 
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 365 
 
 Death found our old friend read} 7 . He died as he would have wished to 
 die. It had been his ordinary petition at family prayer that God would 
 u make him useful as long as he lived and let him die in his service." We 
 can read in the circumstances of his death the remarkably answer to this 
 petition. He was allowed the full possession of all his vigorous mental 
 powers, and strength for the discharge of all his duties, to the last moment 
 of his life. He had come from his study-table, from the preparation of a 
 discourse for the coming Sunday, and had taken his place in this chapel, 
 once more to pray with us and for us, and then to go forth to his task, 
 when the summons came to him, and by a tranquil, painless, almost instan- 
 taneous death at his post in the presence of his classes, he passed from the 
 cares and toils of earthly labor to his reward. Such a death was the fitting 
 close of this long life of unwearied labor for the good of his fellow-men^ of 
 continuous self-denying adherence to an early-chosen, noble plan of life, 
 and of inflexible devotion to truth and duty. 
 
 POPE, FIELDING— Was born in Virginia in 1800. He was educated in 
 Marysville College, Tenn., and studied divinity at the Southern and Western 
 Theological Seminary, at Marysville, Tenn. He was licensed by Union 
 Presbytery in 1826, and soon after was ordained by the same Presbytery, 
 and began his labors as stated supply for Mars Hill, Columbiana and Shiloh 
 churches, near Athens, Tenn. This relation existed until 1833, when he ac- 
 cepted a profesorship in Marysville College, Tenn, and in 1836 he also 
 preached for Eusebia church, in Blount county, Tenn. In 1844 he resigned 
 his professorship and devoted all his time to the ministry. In 1852 he was 
 connected as president with the Masonic Female Institute of Marysville, and 
 in 1857 he took charge of New Providence church, in Marysville : in all 
 these labors he was earnest and faithful. About the close of the civil war 
 he was compelled to leave his home on account of the lawlessness of the 
 times, and he removed to the residence of his granddaughter, near Lump- 
 kin, Ga., where he died, March 23, 1867, of heart disease. 
 
 He was married three times : first, to Miss Craig, of Kentucky ; second, 
 to Miss Meigs, of Nashville, Tenn. ; third, to Miss Hannum, of Marysville, 
 Tenn., who, with four children, survives him. 
 
 Rev. C. C. Newman, of Estaboga, Ala. , writes : 
 
 He was a man of great power and popularity in the pulpit ; in later years 
 he seemed to have lost some of his power, but none of his zeal. Take him 
 altogether, he was a man in ability above the ordinary grade — a good man 
 and full of good works. 
 
 REID, JOHN WILSON— The son of Joseph and Margaret (Farr) Reid, 
 was born in Cabarras county, North Carolina, in 1807. He was early called 
 of God, and felt persuaded that he must be a minister. His means were 
 humble and it was his lot to battle with poverty ; this he did with unwavering 
 purpose, and in his acquisition of learning he gave evidence of that in- 
 domitable energy which was characteristic of him through life. He pur- 
 sued his literary and scientific studies chiefly under Dr. John Robinson of 
 North Carolina. In 1831 he removed to Columbia county, Ga., and opened 
 a classical school, during which time he studied theology under the direction 
 of S. K. Talmage, D.D.,* at that time pastor of the church in Augusta, Ga. 
 He was licensed by Hopewell Presbytery in September, 1833, at Decatur ? 
 
 * A memoir of De. Talmage is published in TJie Presbyterian Historical Almanac for 1866, p. 363. 
 
866 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Ga., and soon after ordained by the same Presbytery. In addition to his 
 teaching he was stated supply of Bethel church. He was subsequently con- 
 nected with Olivet, South Liberty, Lincolnton, Double Branches, Salem, 
 Woodstock, Bethany and Lexington churches, and also as a general domestic 
 missionary agent. It will thus be seen that he was an active and earnest 
 Christian, and when it is known that he was also a teacher his usefulness 
 must be acknowledged. He died at his residence in Woodstock, Ogle- 
 thorpe county, Ga., July 11, 1867, of dysentery. 
 
 He married Miss Sophia A. Morgan, who, with a daughter and son, sur- 
 vives him. 
 
 Rev. B. A. Houston, of Mayfield, Geo., writes: For about thirty years, 
 he laboriously followed the occupation of teaching in connection with the ex- 
 ercise of his ministry. _ Having completed his preparations in North Caro- 
 lina, he came to Georgia at a mature age to begin life in a new sphere ; and 
 having spent several years — ten or twelve — in the instruction of youth in 
 the counties of Columbia and Lincoln, with decided acceptance and success, 
 he removed to Woodstock, Oglethorpe co. , where he resided until his death. 
 This village, delightfully embowered in a fine grove of oaks, in a sequestered 
 spot, free from all the common sources of temptation to the young, was 
 built up by the subject of this sketch and two or three other gentlemen of 
 wealth and intelligence, for the sake of social, educational and religious 
 privileges. It has been devoted to these high purposes, and having become 
 classic ground to hundreds, will be long remembered for its sacred associa- 
 tions and extensive salutary influence. For a few years, Mr. Beid taught 
 the numerous scholars placed under his care in all the branches and to the 
 extent ordinary in a high-school. But the capacity, skill and success of the 
 teacher in training young men, rapidly increased his reputation; and many 
 others from every direction and from distant points, even beyond the bounds 
 of the State, came hither to enjoy the rare intellectual and moral advantages 
 of the school. It was thought, therefore, that a more regular organization 
 would secure greater efficiency, and meet the wants of that numerous circle 
 who desired to prepare for the various. occupations of active life, and yet 
 from different causes were unable to meet the requirements of a college. 
 The studies of quite a full literary, classical and scientific course were there- 
 fore arranged into four divisions, adapted to youth in the different grades of 
 advancement, and adequate to ensure thorough and efficient scholarship. 
 The school henceforth took the name of " Philomathean Collegiate Insti- 
 tute." He was most efficiently assisted during two or three years — first by 
 his eldest son, and afterward by his youngest; the former, a graduate of 
 Princeton ; the latter, of Oglethorpe University. This organization accom- 
 plished all that its friends expected. The change was made at the sugges- 
 tion and by the aid of the Honorable Alexander H. Stephens, a finished 
 scholar himself, and long a patron of this school. For among the numerous 
 patriotic and benevolent efforts of this gentleman in behalf of his country- 
 men, none shine brighter than his education of worthy young men without 
 adequate means to accomplish it themselves. He frequently had several at 
 the same time under Mr. Beid's instruction, and their diligence and attain- 
 ments generally vindicate the wisdom of their selection as well as of the 
 choice of their teacher. It is proper to mention in this connection that Mr. 
 Beid also was in the habit of boarding and teaching young men of promise, 
 but without means, on condition of payment if ever they became able. It 
 is supposed that perhaps a hundred were thus enabled to obtain an educa- 
 tion. And it is worthy of record that the universality with which these en-